The News is SOOOO Good, I Need Higher Definition to Enhance My Appreciation

It's been about 31 months since I blew my anticipated $1500 HDTV budget on a big-ass 70-inch Sony tv which cost about five times as much. That's typical konagod. And in typical konagod procrastination, I'm just now getting around to upgrading my Dish Network service to an HD package. Here's the new dish.

I was a bit surprised to learn that we were not replacing our existing dish (which we still need for standard definition broadcasts), but we need a 2nd dish for the HDTV stuff. The old one is the one you can see in this next shot below -- the dish closer to the house, and the new one is installed on a post out by that tree left of center. Neither dish is really obnoxiously in your face -- especially not from the patio so I'm happy about that.

And boy, I can hardly wait to turn on the news tonight. It wasn't exactly a slow news day.

A barrage of bad news including yet another record high for oil drove stocks sharply lower Thursday, hurtling the Dow Jones industrials down nearly 360 points to their lowest level in almost two years.

The market also worried about fresh signs of trouble in the financial, high-tech and automotive industries. Negative analyst comments sent shares of General Motors Corp. stock to their lowest point in more than three decades.

Oil futures shot past $140 after the head of OPEC predicted the price of a barrel of crude could rise well over $150 this year and Libya said it may cut oil production.

Are we having fun yet? That's enough to overshadow the latest 5-4 Supreme Court ruling. Hey, look on the bright side. As the situation continues to deteriorate, we can start blowing our heads off if necessary.

Here we go....